1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and system for detection of fecal and ingesta material. In another aspect, the present invention relates to a method of and system for detection of fecal and ingesta material during the processing of foods. In even another aspect, the present invention relates to a method of and system for detection of fecal and ingesta material during the processing of poultry, beef, veal, pork, lamb and mutton. In still another aspect, the present invention relates to a method of and system for detection of fecal and ingesta material during the processing of poultry, beef, veal, pork, lamb and mutton, utilizing fluorescence.
2. Description of the Related Art
Processing of meats and poultry, such as chicken, turkey, beef, veal, pork, lamb, mutton, and even the more exotic emu and ostrich, tend to expose them to fecal and ingesta matter. This is especially true when meats and poultry are processed utilizing highly automatic and rapid systems which might cut into or tear apart the intestines and bowels of those animals. Additional expose to fecal matter occurs as a matter of course from having these animals confined immediately prior to slaughter in holding pens.
Inspection of meat and poultry has always been of great importance to insure the safety of the food system. However, in spite of the importance of having proper inspections, the advances in meat and poultry inspection technology have been limited at best.
Recent meat contamination events involving e coli bacteria have led the public and media to require more careful inspection of meat and poultry. Such publicity has also revealed to the public that inspection for bacterial contamination is many times conducted by a meat inspector using human sight to find microscopic bacteria and other contaminants. Such techniques reveal those meat and poultry carcasses in the advanced stages of contamination, but are not very efficient at finding less advanced stages of bacterial contamination.
With modern processing equipment and the economic demands of the market place, meat and poultry lines are typically run as quickly as possible, further complicating the task of human visual inspection.
There have been suggestions in the prior art for methods of inspecting foodstuffs.
Foods and feeds have natural components which fluoresce when exposed to energy at particular wavelengths. Coumarins, coumarosteroids, carotenoids, chlorophyllins, and other plant and animal pigments all have characteristic absorption and fluorescent properties. Fluorescence is commonly used to detect mouse and rat droppings in grain products, to detect the presence of Aspergillus flavus in various grain products, and to detect the spoilage organism, Pseudomonas in coolers and freezers.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,067,328, issued Dec. 4, 1962 to Harrison, discloses a method for the inspection of crustaceans to determine their freshness. The method involves exposing the shrimp to light in the violet and ultraviolet region of the spectrum of 250 to 375 millimicrons, and comparing the resultant fluorescence pattern against the bright white pattern for fresh shrimp.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,622,469, issued Nov. 11, 1986 to Akiyama, discloses a method of and apparatus for detecting rotten albumen. The apparatus includes a device for casting 300 to 410 nm UV light onto the albumen, an optical filter system for filtering out UV light at wavelengths less than 400 nm, and a discriminating means which compares the received signal to a predetermined threshold level of fluorescence from sound albumen, and after the comparison outputs a signal indicating the presence or absence of rotten albumen.
However, in spite of these advancements in the prior art, none of these prior art references disclose or suggest a method of or apparatus for inspecting meat and poultry for ingesta and fecal matter.
Thus, these is still a need for a method of and apparatus for inspecting meat and poultry.
There is another need in the art for method of and apparatus for inspecting meat and poultry that will not have an undue slowing affect on the processing speed.
There is even another need in the art for an economic method of and apparatus for inspecting meat and poultry.
There is still another need in the art for a method of and apparatus for inspecting meat and poultry, that has an improved detection method as compared to human visual inspection.
These and other needs in the art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon review of this specification, including its drawings and claims.